Malaysia Airlines plane search: British yachtswoman 'saw MH370 on fire'

       

Production of Snake skin Handbags - Indonesia (VIDEO)

 

Take a look inside a snake slaughterhouse at Kapetakan village in Indonesia's West Java province.
The manufacturing cost of a bag is $15 - $31 depending on its size. The bag cost a lot more in the market.

China and Japan on the brink of Third World War

 

As China flexes its military might, with huge increases in defence spending and increasingly assertive patrols in disputed territories, Japan has compared the tensions to those between England and Germany before the First World War.

Epiphany Celebration in Hong Kong - VIDEO

 

The Orthodox community of Hong Kong celebrated Epiphany, an important religious celebration for all Greeks and Orthodox Christians.

SINGAPORE: Christmas Decoration

 

 

Keeping the Christmas tradition, the children and some of our parishioners decorated the Christmas Tree at the Holy Resurrection Orthodox Cathedral.

Hongkongers - Keeping faith in the city

  

The majority of Hongkongers celebrate Christmas on December 25. However, a handful will set aside January 7 as their holy day – that’s the day the Russian Orthodox Church observes Christmas Day and many non-Russian Hongkongers have embraced the faith.

Watch how the major religions have conquered the entire world over 5,000 years - in 90 seconds

 

 Map of religion: The last shot of the map shows the geography of religion today

By modern times, the map is filled with vast swathes of blue, or Christian lands and almost equally large green, or Islamic ones. Buddhism retains its hold in China while Hinduism holds fast in India.

Orthodox Center Opens in Baku, Azerbaijan

 

 

Azerbaijan - Baku: Russian Orthodox Church of Archangel Michael 

The establishment of an Orthodox religious and cultural center as part of the local diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in Baku confirms the Azeri people's tolerant attitude toward other faiths, Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbuloglu told Interfax on Friday.

Russian monastery flooded in Thailand

The heavy rain has flooded a Russian men's monastery in the Thai province of Ratchaburi
 


The water level in the monastery has reached 70 centimeters. Although it has now stopped raining, the water level continues to rise, the office of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand has reported.

BREAKING NEWS>> CALL FOR HELP - Philippines storm kills estimated 10,000, destruction hampers rescue efforts

 Metropolis of Hong Kong and the Far East. Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia:

Banks:

• HSBC

S/A: 102-299344-838
Swift code: HSBCHKHHHKH
(No 10 Harcourt Rd. Hong Kong)

• Standard Chartered

S/A: 447-1-071056-1
Swift code: SCBLHKHHXXX
(Central Branch, Shop No16, GF New World Tower, 16-18 Queen’s Rd.
Central, Hong Kong).

Humanitarian Aid for Philippines via Orthodox Church in Philippines.

In Greece:
NATIONAL BANK: 103/296014-12

 Rescue workers struggled to reach ravaged towns and villages in the central Philippines on Monday as they tried to deliver aid to survivors of a powerful typhoon that killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced more than 600,000.

New details of attack on a Christian family in Islamabad revealed

 

In connection with the newly revealed circumstances regarding the attack by three militant islamists on a Christian family in Islamabad, Pakistani police have addressed the media with new statements, reports the Linga portal.

INDIA: Divine diplomacy - build Russian church, let temple stay

Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s

Matthew 22:21

 

New Delhi, Oct. 16: The paths are about to cross on the table of high diplomacy.

Places of worship have crept into the agenda of summit talks between President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next Monday.

Bangladesh: Anti-Islamist blogger killed

 

A blogger who had been critical of Bangladesh's Islamist groups was killed in the capital late Friday, police said, a day after he attended a big rally against leaders of the country's largest Islamic party.

Protests championed by the country's bloggers have seen thousands of people take to the streets demanding the execution of leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami party who are under trial for war crimes. Clashes between police and Islamist protesters demanding the trials be halted have also rocked the capital.

Police found the body of Ahmed Rajib, 35 -- better known by his online identity Thaba Baba -- near his home in Dhaka's Pallabi suburb, with his head hacked apart with a machete.

"We recovered the machete. It is clear the attacker wanted to murder him. They did not touch his laptop or other valuable objects," police official Sheikh Motiur Rahman told AFP.

Police have not commented on a possible motive for the killing, but Rahman, citing Rajib's relatives, said the blogger played a large role in organising the anti-Islamist protests.

READ MORE>>>>

PROPAGANDA VIDEO: Watch North Korea's dream of nuking NYC to a Michael Jackson song (VIDEO)

North Korea dreams of nuking New York City to the tune of "We Are the World." That's the gist of the latest propaganda video from the Hermit Kingdom, which uses cutting-edge 1980s video editing to portray the dreams of one citizen comrade, fantasizing about the Big Apple leveled by a Communist missile attack. The choice of music is odd by anyone's standards, but if one were being nuked, there are probably worse songs to accompany it than a Michael Jackson ballad raising money for Africa. The video, uploaded by the Uriminzokkiri propaganda agency, is hilarious, proving that North Korea continues to toe that thin line between "evil nuclear rogue state" and "Borat country." 

Swiss banks lure clients with gold accounts, cash vaults

Geneva: Swiss banks are selling a new safe-haven idea to the rich and mighty from India and other countries -- special accounts for holding gold bars and high-value Swiss franc notes in the safety of their cash vaults.

Amid a global crackdown against alleged illicit wealth in secret accounts of Swiss banks, these new products claim to offer safety from the snooping eyes of regulators and tax authorities from the home countries of the rich foreign clients of banks operating from Switzerland.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, several Swiss bankers present at the recently held World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos said these gold accounts and cash vaults are being lapped up by the rich clients from across the world, including those from India.

As a result, some of the large banks have already hiked the fees for these gold accounts and the safe deposit boxes, which are also being used to store valuables like gold, diamond, paintings and other art works, a top Swiss banker said.

The bankers claimed that these safe deposit vaults are being lapped up because of limited risk of catching the prying eyes of the foreign governments having signed banking information exchange treaties with Switzerland.

None of the banks were ready to offer official comments on this trend, despite repeated attempts, although their officials admitted that they have successfully approached with these products many of their rich clients, including during the WEF summit.

The bankers said they are telling their rich clients that Switzerland's tax and information exchange treaties with India and other countries are mostly limited to funds in the customers' savings, deposit and investment accounts, and do not apply to the safe deposit boxes.

As a result, the demand has soared to record high levels for the safe deposit boxes and the 1,000 Swiss franc banknotes in Switzerland, as rich of the world are rushing to get them. As per the data available with Switzerland's central bank SNB (Swiss National Bank), the thousand-franc notes now account for 61 per cent of total value of all Swiss banknotes in circulation, up from about 50 per cent in 2011.

Just one thousand-franc banknote is worth about R

s.

 60,000, making it easier to store large amount of money in form of these notes. The total value of thousand-franc notes currently in circulation is over R

s.

two trillion (35 billion Swiss francs). Also, Switzerland is among the few major countries to have denomination of as high as 1,000, while the highest value banknotes in the UK and the US are only 50 pounds (about R

s.

 4,300) and 100 dollars (R

s.

 5,500), respectively.

Amid allegations of Indians stashing huge amounts of illicit wealth abroad, including in Swiss banks, the Indian government last year said it is making various efforts to bring back the unaccounted money.

As the global pressure mounts on Switzerland to give access to their banking account details, the demand is growing for thousand-franc notes as these high-value currency bills make it easier to store large amount of cash.

A rush had begun last year for the safe deposit vaults at Swiss banks, after which many banks have increased their capacity for these boxes and are now charging higher fees from their rich clients availing these services. While there are no official figures for these boxes, the commission and fees earned by banks for such facilities appear to be rising.

Swiss banks have registered a decline in their overall commission earnings, as also in their commission income from core banking operations, in the recent quarters, but their 'other commissions', which includes royalty and rental fees for safe deposit boxes, are rising sharply.

While Indians are alleged to have stashed billions of dollars worth black money in Swiss banks, the official SNB data puts the funds of Indian clients in Switzerland's banks at a modest 2.18 billion Swiss francs (R

s.

 12,700 crore) -- which is just 0.14 per cent of total foreign wealth there, as on December 31, 2011.

BBC: Jesus In India - Documentary (VIDEO)

The secret horror of North Korean prison camps - Google Earth has helped (PHOTO)

• The freely available application is being used to map out the hidden camps
• More than 200,000 people are believed to be imprisoned in the network
• Human rights activists say images could help build pressure to close them
• Inmates forced to eat rats and even pick through faeces in bid for survival 

The secret network of North Korean prison camps are being mapped out in unprecedented detail thanks to Google Earth. 

The freely available application is being utilised by human rights activists to unmask the scale of the forced labour camps where more than 200,000 people are imprisoned. 

Amnesty International is among the organisations that have praised the use of Google Earth in helping to reveal the truth in one of the world's most secretive states.

Guard houses and burial grounds have been identified in this image of Camp 22 where 50,000 are believed to be imprisoned

Prisoners in Camp 22 are forced to stone each other to death and up to 2,000 people die of starvation or disease a year

Amnesty, which is banned in the Communist country, said inmates have to go to almost unimaginable lengths to survive the camps where starvation, disease and executions are rife.

 

Spokesman Neil Durkin told MailOnline: '[Camp] inmates have been reduced to eating rats or picking corn kernels out of animal waste to survive, and an estimated 40% of detainees die of malnutrition.

'For years the North Korean authorities have tried to deny the very existence of these camps - so if commercial satellite mapping can help support what we’ve been able to show about the extent of a secret network of prison camps, then it could be helpful in putting pressure on the authorities to get them closed down.'

Camp 16, pictured, was discovered by Mr Stanton in 2007 while he was researching North Korea using Google Earth

Google chairman Eric Schmidt was criticised in recent weeks after he visited the secretive state headed by Kim Jong Un on what was called 'personal travel'. 

Many were angry at the timing of his visit to North Korea - a country with notoriously restrictive online policies - coming just weeks after a controversial rocket launch that was condemned by Washington.

But Joshua Stanton, a Washington lawyer who blogs on North Korean human rights, said the trip is insignificant compared to Google's good work in revealing the truth about the state.

He told Irish news outlet RTE: 'The good that Google has done, however inadvertently, by helping people tell the truth about North Korea, will probably be reflected in the history of the country one day.'

The application has also helped reveal normal life in the secretive country such as this image of a Shiite Mosque in the capital Pyongyang

Mr Stanton has used the tool to compile details of six prisoner camps, including three that he identified. 

Through the images he has been able to pinpoint burial grounds, guard houses and gates on vast camps that are made to look like villages. 

Mr Stanton helped identify Camp 16 where he says more than 10,000 men, women and children are imprisoned.

Images have also been taken of Camp 22 which houses about 50,000 people and where prisoners are forced to stone each other to death, women are regularly raped and an estimated 2,000 people die a year. 

Men, women and children are forced to work seven days a week as slaves and eat what they can find to battle starvation. 

Experts say tens of thousands of prisoners at the camps are often taken from their homes or in the street for supposed 'political crimes'. 

Other camps that have been identified with the help of Google Earth include the Yodok camp, where an estimated 50,000 North Koreans are imprisoned.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt, left, pictured arriving at Beijing airport from North Korea with former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, right, was criticised for the timing of the trip

Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of the Google chairman, who travelled with her father to North Korea, wrote a blog post of her observations and included photos of the secretive country. She said university students have carefully-monitored internet access and are under strict instructions to access only educational materials

Amnesty has interviewed escapees and released prisoners who say they witnessed executions for 'crimes' such as 'defiance of North Korean system, espionage acts, or refusal to be reformed'. 

One mechanic was killed for failing to repair an officer's car properly. 

Witnesses say the most common charge for public execution is attempting to escape. 

Others are arrested at dawn or dusk from their homes and gagged for supposed suspicious activity. 

Google Earth's high resolution satellite imagery has also been praised by the Committe for Human Rights in North Korea, a US non-governmental organisation.

It said in its 2012 edition of The Hidden Gulag that the technology 'allows the former prisoners to identify their former barracks and houses, their former execution grounds and otehr landmarks in the camps'.

Google Earth has also been used to reveal details about everyday life in North Korea - such as mosques in the capital Pyongyang and schools, roads and train stations. 

Target US: N.Korea warns of new nuclear missile launch (VIDEO)

North Korea has warned of ‘a full-fledged confrontation’ with Washington, promising to conduct a rocket launch and a nuclear test targeting the US. The threats come a day after the UN Security Council expanded US-backed sanctions against Pyongyang for its rocket launch in December.

Political analyst Nile Bowie says Washington is keeping up pressure because North Korea’s isolation benefits Barack Obama’s Asia policy. 

Ex-CIA analyst finds mysterious Chinese complex on Google Earth (VIDEO)

Late last month, former CIA analyst Allen Thomson was clicking through a space news website when he noticed a story about a new orbital tracking site being built near the small city of Kashgar in southwestern China. Curious, he went to Google Earth to find it. He poked around for a while, with no luck. Then he came across something kind of weird.

Thomson, who served in the CIA from 1972 to 1985 and as a consultant to the National Intelligence Council until 1996, has made something of a second career finding odd stuff in public satellite imagery. He discovered these giant grids etched into the Chinese desert in 2011, and a suspected underground missile bunker in Iran in 2008. When the Israeli Air Force destroyed a mysterious facility in Syria the year before, Thomson put together an 812-page dossier on the so-called "Box on the Euphrates." Old analyst habits die hard, it seems. 

Malaysian sultan forbids using ‘Allah’ outside Islam

 

The Sultan of the Malaysian state Selangor has issued a decree that the sacred word ‘Allah’ can be used only by Muslims. The move put more fire into controversy in the state where language peculiarities also make Christians use the term.

“Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah made a decision and decreed that the word ‘Allah’ is a sacred word specific to Muslims and it is prohibited to be used by any non-Muslim in Selangor,” the Islamic Affairs Council of the Selangor state said Tuesday. The body added "a stern action" was ordered against those questioning the new fatwa, but did not elaborate.

The sultan, mufti and council convened after the chief minister of another state, Penang, urged the central government to allow the word ‘Allah’ to be used in the Malay translation of the Bible.

Over 28 million people live in Malaysia, out of them:

61.3% are Muslims

19.8% are Buddhists

9.2% are Christians

6.3% are Hindus

3.4% practice other or no religion

Source: 2010 Census

Christians in Indonesia and Malaysia also use ‘Allah’ to refer to God in their languages. This comes through traditional translations of the Bible made back in the 16th-17th centuries which put the Hebrew’s ‘Elohim’ (‘God’ in English holy books) as ‘Allah’.

But in 2007 the central Malaysian government decided to put an end to the old tradition and limited the usage of the term to the Muslim context only. This was revoked by the High Court two years later; the judges said the law was unconstitutional. The government appealed the ruling and the short-lived implementation of the 2009 court verdict has since been suspended.

Sultan Sharafuddin’s decree could not but create an immediate political standoff. It comes on the eve of a broad meeting called by Pakatan Rakyat, a national affiliation within the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). For the convention, Pakatan Rakyat allowed the use of ‘Allah’ to all groups, including non-Muslims.

Just minutes after the forbidding decree, PAS leadership endorsed by other opposition parties proclaimed they stand firm by their decision.

“‘Allah’ in its original Koran meaning stands for ‘The One and Only God' and it should not be misused by others against the Muslim community, to the point of creating confusion,” PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said. “Nevertheless, Islam does not stop followers of other religions from using the word ‘Allah’ in practicing their faith, although it might not be equitable to the actual meaning of the original Koranic word.”

Malaysia's Council of Churches also said it will continue to use the word “Allah” in the Malay version of the Bible. 

"Many indigenous communities in our nation have incorporated this word in their everyday language. That being the case, we shall continue this practice, and call on all parties to respect this fundamental right,” the prominent organization said in a statement adding the practice was a right “guaranteed to them in the country's Federal Constitution” under Article 11, which secures freedom of religion.

However, officials across the country reacted positively to the reaffirmed ban on the word, some of them saying that Sultan Sharafuddin has every right to issue such decrees, him being the head of the state's Islamic affairs.